The truth about virtual reality: You don't need it yet

Many of those same people, however, might tell you virtual
reality isn't quite ready yet.

At its best, virtual reality can transport you to places you've
never been before and let you experience things you couldn't
otherwise. But right now, virtual reality headsets are still,
unfortunately, not for everyone.

They're bulky. There are a lot of wires. There's no great way to
interact with the virtual environment just yet. But more
importantly, they're really, really expensive — not
just the headsets, but the computers needed to power them (either
smartphones or high-end gaming PCs).

Convergence is what happens when both of your eyes look at an
image to prevent you from seeing double, and accommodation is
what your eyes do to keep that image from looking blurry.

Banks says these two processes are linked in the brain so we can
see the world around us properly. They have to work together in
order to focus on images at different distances.

"On these displays, you have to break that linkage," he says.
"You have to accommodate to one distance and converge to another
distance. And we believe that need, to kind of break the normal
coupling, is what leads to the discomfort."

Right now, companies like Oculus VR, Valve, and Sony are working
on ways so VR can trick your eyes into thinking there's no
conflict, but this will take time. After all,
there are tons of other problems VR needs to solve before it can
become what we all want it to be: realistic, lightweight and
ergonomic for all-day use. With all the considerable investments
around VR, it's likely we'll see many of these problems
get solved in as few as five years. But as for right now,
you don't need to sweat about not having a VR headset just yet.
These devices are incredible right now, but soon, they'll be that
much better and more accessible to the general public.